Instant Pot Vegan Cheese Sauce
Sep 20, 2018, Updated Oct 11, 2018
Seriously amazing Vegan Cheese Sauce made in the Instant Pot! Super quick, so smooth & creamy that you won't believe its vegan!
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Super cheesy and creamy Vegan Cheese Sauce made in the Instant Pot!
Use it on nachos, as dips, over pasta or make your favorite mac & cheese!
If you love all the Instant Pot vegetarian/vegan recipes that I share on the blog, please join me on this Facebook Group – Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes. The group shares/features vegetarian instant pot recipes and ideas from all around the web!
Vegan cheese? Have you guys ever tried it? I am not a vegan but I am often intrigued by some of the vegan products that I see in the market.
I remember once I was very fascinated with tempeh and bought a big packet from the store. I was not able to eat it at all!
I can eat pretty much everything as long as its vegetarian but I wasn’t able to eat tempeh. Maybe it was just me and I need to give it another shot?
Recently, I bought a pack of vegan cheese to use on my pizza from Trader Joe’s. To my disappointment, it turned out really bad and ruined my pizza. I just couldn’t eat it.
There was no taste and it was all a big mess. Is there any vegan cheese that you guys like? Let me know and maybe I will give it another go.
Anyway, I am not a very cheese person but sometime back I happened to try a vegan cheese sauce at a restaurant which I really enjoyed. I thought it was so cheesy and so perfect and I couldn’t believe it was vegan.
Since then, making a vegan cheese sauce has been on my to do list and what better than using my Instant Pot to do it!
You guys, this sauce is so cheesy, really it tastes like the real deal. You would have a hard time believing it’s all vegan.
How to Make Vegan Cheese Sauce
Well you start off with some creamy vegetables like carrots, potato. Add cashews for more creaminess, add in some spices for flavor and then add the most important ingredient – nutritional yeast!
Have you guys ever had nutritional yeast? I started adding to it salads, soups and dips recently. Don’t confuse this with the active dry yeast that you use for baking.
This is totally different, it’s deactivated yeast and you can find it online at amazon or at stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s. Adding the nutritional yeast really bring out the cheesy flavor.
This is one ingredients which you absolutely cannot skip in this recipe!
This vegan cheese sauce recipe is so simple to make in the Instant Pot. You just need to dump everything together, cook it on high pressure and then puree it in a blender to a smooth sauce.
So easy and tasty!
How to Eat The Vegan Cheese Sauce?
In so many ways!
- Use as a dip with veggies, chips
- Top is over chips for nachos
- Toss with macroni for vegan mac n cheese
- Toss with rice and veggies for a creamy bowl of cheesy rice
And so so much more!
I hope you guys give this recipe a try. It’s made with simple ingredients (except the nutritional yeast) and is really good.
Can I Freeze The Vegan Cheese Sauce?
Yes, you may! I divide the sauce into small portions and then freeze each portion in a separate ziplock. Squeeze as much air as possible from your ziplock and then freeze.
Take out the portion that you want to use and place in the refrigerator overnight. I have in fact frozen couple of portions and I will get back to you how it works.
Method
1- To your instant pot add cubed russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cashews and 1 cup water.
2- Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual/pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. The pressure valve should be in the sealing position.
Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the valve from sealing to venting position.
3- Let the veggies cool down a bit and then transfer them to a high speed blender.
4- Add nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, turmeric, white vinegar, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of either water or almond milk.
Pulse for 30 seconds or until the sauce is super creamy and smooth. Transfer vegan cheese sauce to serving bowl. Enjoy with chips or veggies!
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Instant Pot Vegan Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 large russet potato 320 grams, cubed
- 1 large sweet potato 300 grams, cubed
- 2 large carrots 170 grams, cut into rounds
- 1/4 cup cashews raw, 35 grams
- 1 cup water 8 oz
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1.25 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup water or almond milk 2 oz
Instructions
- To your instant pot add cubed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cashews and 1 cup water.
- Close the pot with its lid. Press the manual/pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. The pressure valve should be in the sealing position.Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes and then do a quick pressure release by manually moving the valve from sealing to venting position.
- Let the veggies cool down a bit and then transfer them to a high speed blender.
- Add nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, turmeric, white vinegar, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of either water or almond milk.
- Pulse for 30 seconds or until the sauce is super creamy and smooth. Transfer vegan cheese sauce to serving bowl. Enjoy with chips or veggies!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Holy Moly, this is so good. I recently made another ‘cheese dip’ made mainly from cashews. It was good, but I had a feeling there was something better out there. So I tried this today. Wow, so good. And it had the exact amount of thickness you would need for a dip. And even though I made this specifically as a dip today, I could see this would be great any recipe you needed a ‘melty’ cheese, like mac ‘n cheese.
I love that I can indulge with this ‘cheese’ recipe and know that I am eating mainly potatoes and carrots and not the unhealthy dairy products. Thanks for posting.
Omg! I can’t eat hard cheeses, so I haven’t had it for at least 20 years and have always missed it. Since we started a plant-based lifestyle over a year ago, I’ve been searching for an oil free vegan cheese recipe that’s quick and easy. This cheese sauce is sooo good! Both my husband and I love it! It’s close enough for us and will definitely be our go to recipe. I added onion powder and a teaspoon of white Miso paste and I didn’t have plain white vinegar, so I used a pear infused white balsamic vinegar – these changes only enhanced the flavor even more! Thank you for developing this recipe!!
glad you liked it!
I excluded sweet potato, lemon juice and vinegar. I added some jalalenos with juice instead. It was delicious.
glad to know!
I’ve made this a few times now, both for my partner and myself, and for (non-vegan) friends when having a little party!
Works great with tortilla chips, I’ve poured it on gram flour ‘omelettes’ with vegetables, over chips (fries) with fried onions, peppers and chillis, and in quesadillas.
It’s so versatile, and so delicious, everyone I’ve made it for loves it!
I really liked this as did my family. I could see that if you were a new vegan it might disappoint, it does have a different flavor than traditional cheese sauce. But if you are not expecting the exact taste, it’s really good! I had some leftovers that I added to a tofu scramble and it elevated the dish! Thank you.
Would a large yellow potato work in place of the russet?
russet has more starch and works better but you can try yellow.
How long can this be refrigerated, can it be frozen
yes it should freeze okay
Love this! Have made it a couple times. I like to add some chipotles in adobo to add a little extra heat and flavor 🙂
Made it both ways. I preferred it with the water drained.
Just tried this and OMG it’s so yummy! Kinda tastes like a smokey beer cheese. This is the first vegan cheese I’ve ever liked so I’m stoked! Thank you!
The Daiya brand of plant-based cheeses is very good. I’m not at all vegan, but I do like using their cheese. It seems to melt fairly well in the microwave–I’ve made mac and cheese with it, and I have only a micro and an IP to cook with (no stove in this weensy studio)–and would likely melt easily on the stovetop, probably also in the IP. Daiya isn’t carried everywhere, I discovered, but we do have it here in mid MO at the Price Chopper stores. Haven’t seen it at either Kroger or Walmart here.
Thanks Joyce, I will try it!
This was really good. I added Dijon mustard, dried chives, dill seed. I omitted the vinegar and lemon juice and added crushed garlic instead of dried. I can’t stop eating it so delicious.
I have made some vegan cheese before and not liked it, but this we thought was really good! Not too strong a taste of nutritional yeast. We had it on roasted leeks, with greens on the side. Delicious! It did make far more than we needed: 4 pots going in the freezer for another time! But that saves on work and mess later! Also good that it didn’t need too many cashews, and was quick to make.
Thank you! It’s a keeper! 🙂
glad you liked it Judy!
I make a similar cheese sauce but use rhutubagas instead of potatos to cut back on my potassium intake but, never thought of using carrots , will make this and let you know my opinion but, sounds delicious.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, for how long will you have to blend the veggies?
you mean cook the veggies? until they are really soft. Add them to a pot and cook on stove-top until really soft and then blend.
Do you drain the veggies after cooking? Or do you just dump the cooled veggies with cooking liquid into the blender, and then add the additional 1/4 cup water/almond milk?
I don’t drain the veggies
why is this vegan cheese high in sodium?
Hi Maria, this is calculated automatically by a plugin so it’s not 100% accurate. Let me re-check
So all i had was yukon gold and i’m like- she is realllly specific and i bet i’m going to ruin all this.. but no it was delicious. the salt content .. i thought is that for real?? i didn’t add all the salt. But it was so incredible. I ate a ton on chips and then thought.. i wonder how many calories this is LOL. not too many. i switched to dipping carrots. and putting on some potatoes. i will make this again soon
well I am glad it worked with yukon gold too!
Delicious – love having a “cheese sauce” recipe that uses whole, healthy foods. Served it on macaroni and baked it. Will freeze the leftovers. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe.
Sharon
Welcome Sharon! 🙂
I made it last night! We put it over baked potato and roasted broccoli. A win for my kids! They are used to all kinds of vegan cheeses. My mother is vegan and we eat plant based 99% of the time, so they have had store bought and home made vegan cheese of all kinds. They said they want me to make it often to eat with their broccoli and other veggies. Victory for me! lol…they are the taste testers. I’m planning on picking up tortilla chips today and reheating the sauce to have nachos with the fam. Thank you for sharing!!
awesome! so happy the kids liked it!
Excited to try this in the IP tomorrow! For a store bought, the only one we have found that is good is CHAO. It is perfect for grilled cheese sandwiches, it melts and taste great!
I like it. I need to warm it up and try it properly as I made the vegetables and then had to run off to work. However, my initial pretasting was very pleasant. question –You are supposed to drain the vegetables right.
Any ideas on a substitute for cashew? Not allergic to almond or pistachio
can use almonds or some people also suggest using white beans in place of cashews!
I know I’m about two years late on this comment, so you may not see it, but leaving it just in case… I’m also allergic to cashews and after much experimentation, I have found that substituting half and half sunflower seeds and hemp seeds is an excellent work-around. (So for 1/2 cup cashews, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds and 1/4 cup hemp seeds)
Each one is too strong a flavor on their own, but for some reason half and half works for me, but also keeps the creaminess of the cashews.
Hi Manali,
Which model of IP do you use? There are so many options, i really find them confusing.
Can you please share a link? Thanks.
Hi Shweta, I highly recommend the Instant Pot DUO 6qt! https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-Multi-Use-Programmable-Pressure/dp/B00FLYWNYQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1541105269&sr=1-3&keywords=instant+pot
I added dijon mustard and omitted the vinegar (I always regret when I use vinegar, I’m super sensitive to the taste) and I love it! So quick and easy! I made it for my lunch today at work!
I am glad to hear that Summer!
This looks similar to my stove top recipe! Was wanting to try to use the instant pot and then came across your recipe. Super stoked to see that it works and will be making today. To the new vegan who said it was gross, you just need to add more seasonings like any recipe until you like!
I agree, adding seasonings as per your taste is the key..everyone has different taste buds 🙂
Earth Island makes a great vegan (for me it’s the dairy free that won me over!) cheese… I use the cheddar for my homemade pizza. It even melts like cheese!
I will definitely try it! Thanks Christy!
Tempeh is really good, but you need to steam it for about 10 minutes before you do anything else. Many recipes do not include this step, but it doesn’t taste good if you don’t steam it, then add marinade, and carry on. Also, I love Trader Joe’s, but their vegan cheese is the worst…..blech. I like Daiya cheddar slices, and Daiya shreds. I make cheeze sauce pretty similar to this recipe, but I am defiantly going to try your variations, thank you.
Thanks Krista, I will give tempeh another try and steam it this time and see! 🙂
Fresh homemade tempeh is nothing like commercial. It is incredible.
I will need to try it then!
I love that there is no oil or vegan butter in this. Will make today! Thanks so much!?
Yeah I agree with you. The fact that there is no vegan butter in there is really a plus.
OK. I made this today and I suppose being new to Veganism, I thought this was pretty gross. Maybe I had too high of expectations for an imitation cheese. ? I did end up making 7 cups. Maybe I used too much potatoes and not enough seasonings?
Sorry you didn’t like it..try adding more seasoning like onion powder, maybe more cayenne pepper and tomato paste? And it does take some time to like the taste of vegan cheese..
How many serving is are the nutritional facts based on? Just wondering the size (cup, tablespoons, etc…) of one serving that the calorie count, etc.. was based. Thank you!
1 cup (8 oz) for this recipe..and this nutritional information is calculated by a plugin so it can never be 100% accurate but it definitely gives an idea!
Any thoughts on what to substitute for cashews? I have an allergy.
other nuts like almonds? or try sunflower seeds?
Awesome! I would have never thought to use our pressure cooker instead of just boiling the veggies. Brillant!
Can you reheat the cheese to use for dipping with chips once you have refrigerated it?
yes you can
For store bought vegan cheese, try Follow Your Heart’s Mozzarella. Melts beautifully in vegan lasagna. We like their sliced cheese Pepperjack and Smoked Gouda.
As for the tempeh, try it when an Indonesian has cooked it for you. They fry it in this sweet, salty, tangy sauce.
Happy Day to you!
Sweet and salty tangy sauce might make me like tempeh! Thanks for sharing Cecile! 🙂
I’d stick to making your own vegan cheeses as the ones that are store bought that melt all seem to have modified food starch in them, and I’m pretty sure anything modified is not so good for you!
Also the teriyaki Tempe is really good, it works well as “bacon”, I like to make BLT’s with it.
Is one cup a serving?
No but it makes 4 cups and I am not sure how many people it can serve..it totally depends!
so what is the serving size for your nutrition info?
1 cup! although this is just en estimate as it’s calculated automatically by a plugin so not 100%
I probably would end up eating the whole batch myself 🙂